Irish election favourite's hopes in balance

Irish Presidential Candidate Sean Gallagher. Photo / AP

The result of today's Irish presidential election could hinge on one word - "envelope" - that has the potential to dash the hopes of the contest favourite.

A dynamic entrepreneur, Sean Gallagher, looked to be striding purposefully towards victory after a campaign that emphasised his business expertise and personal independence.

But in the past few days he has been forced to concede in a television debate that an envelope containing a cheque for €5000 ($8670) may have changed hands as he solicited donations for Fianna Fail, Ireland's most toxic political party.

At a stroke his independent image became tarnished by association with the party whose mixture of incompetence and sleaze are widely regarded as having wrecked the economy.

The situation has not been helped by the fact that the businessman involved, Hugh Morgan, was some years ago convicted of tax evasion and smuggling fuel across the Irish border.

Morgan confirmed he gave a cheque to Gallagher, who had invited him to a Fianna Fail fundraiser.

He said: "In return for the €5000 donation I was promised a private audience with the Taoiseach [Prime Minister] and I would get a photograph taken with him."

Gallagher claims he has been the victim of a smear campaign.

Gallagher's spokesman previously insisted that "at no point did he actively solicit any donations".

He has since been accused of changing his story. Fianna Fail is indelibly identified with "the politics of the brown envelope", a phrase signifying the purchase of favouritism through donations.

When Gallagher uttered the word during a television debate he released a flood of memories of the bad old days.

He had previously admitted some Fianna Fail connections but steadfastly downplayed them and criticised the party's economic record.

In polls, he had been well ahead of his nearest opponent, Michael D Higgins of the Irish Labour Party. Dublin bookies make him favourite.

Most of the damage to Gallagher's standing came from Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness, who is now third favourite.

He opened his campaign strongly but has since faded amid a barrage of criticism of his past record in the IRA.

McGuinness' repeated assertions that he left the violent organisation in the mid-1970s have not been taken seriously.

- INDEPENDENT